Monday, May 11, 2009

Tiger's Been Declawed

Tigers Woods entered the final round of The Players Championship today at -6 and just 4 shots back of leader Alex Cejka. Everything was in place for Tiger to make his usually Sunday charge and win just like everyone expected him to. But something strange happened on this particular Sunday. Tiger didn't make his charge, hell he didn't even make any nice shots, and he ended up shooting a 73 and finishing 7 shots back at -5.

I watched all of Tiger's round while channel surfing between the NBA playoffs and the Jays game and every shot I saw him take was a bad one. He was missing fairways, hitting it into the water, and leaving putts short all day long.

The announcers blamed it on his poor shot selection and one of them even tried to attribute his struggles to the fact that his "biceps are too big to play golf." I on the other hand think that his layoff has made him soft and he no longer has that killer instinct.

When Woods was at the top of his game he used to walk around with such confidence as if no matter where he was on the leader board on Sunday he was going to win. All he needed was a red Nike shirt and it was all over. Now when he is on the course he looks nervous and unsure of himself.

Some might blame the pressure. Now that he is back there is an immense amount of pressure for Woods to win right away and prove he is still dominant. I throw this argument out immediately though as ever since he emerged as the best golfer in the world there has always been pressure on him. Whenever you are picked to win every tournament and if you lose its a disappointment then you know how to deal with pressure.

Tiger should have buried the field today and shown them why he marries hot supermodels and they go home with the locals. He is above and beyond anyone else in the world and has shown that even on one knee he is still the best.

I fear that while he was out Woods lost that competitive spirit and he still needs to get it back. Over the 8 months he has been doing his physically therapy and has been trying to get better. What he hasn't been doing is competing against other golfers for money, trophies, and prestige.

There was once a time when entering a tournament if I took Tiger Woods and gave you the field you would feel I had the advantage. In what other sport would this even come close to being the case? Simply put Tiger Woods is the best golfer on the planet and it's time that he start playing like it.